Well it rather depends on your belifes. Its either, an objective set of rules instilled in us from some higher force, wether that be God the laws of nature or something else. Or its a human creation as a result of societies develpment
I don´t buy into the whole objective, absolute, universal good banter. Even if it were the case, discovering such laws (which seem impractical or even impossible due to endlessly changing and various situations) seems impossible.
Aside from the obvious uses of the term good, e.g. how well something does its purpose, I think “good” in a moral sense merely pertains to someone´s approval of an act which can be deemed moral. To say an act is good is to express approval of it.
“Good” is a transcendental concept. It cannot be categorized (as substance, quality, relation, action, etc.), but applies to any form of being.
Other transcendentals are: Being, One, True, Beautiful.
“Good” is being under the aspect of the desirable.
Only if you are pollyannish. If even “a boot to the head” is good – good for someone somewhere in some way. But we usually ask about the “greatest good” – as if good were not done by applying the same good to all.
…Oh, this reminds me of another distinction:
Aquinas says there are three kinds of good: Being, Perfection, and Utility.
Which of these, I wonder, is whatever man(society) says it is?
But isn’t the Good internal, so you can know it through experience, and the Big Bang external and known only by theory? But even seeking the Big Bang follows on thinking there is something (the origin of the universe) to be explained.
This is like seeking the personal good – something is good for you, and maybe you’re not sure at first what that is.
But if I follow your thinking, that you do not know your own end – your own good – does that mean in your theory that anything can be good – or are you trying out possibilities?
But Good is Being under the aspect of the desirable, so it must be prior to our thoughts, like the universe’s origin being prior to truth/theory. …Unless we only give the aspect of the desirable to being.
I also wonder how you can act for something without a thought of it first. And if it is with you before you seek it, from where was that thought?
But I think this train of though is heading toward whether man knows the universe. If he cannot know, the good is arbitrary; and if man knows, it is not.